Big Changes Are Coming to Aldine ISD in 2018-2019

The District has new grade-span configurations and new boundaries for school enrollment. Aldine ISD’s focus remains the same: to achieve the best academic and developmental outcomes for each student.

— Growing Great Schools in Aldine ISD —

Aldine ISD continues to work and roll out Bond 2015 projects. While this is going on, the District has reconfigured the grade spans at most of its early childhood/prekindergarten to middle school buildings for the 2018-2019 school year. The changes include new boundaries for campus enrollment.

Discussions about reconfiguration began in 2014-2015. District leaders focused on planning for the future. They worked with a steering committee and outside consultants. Those discussions and studies led to the $798 million bond referendum. Voters approved the bonds in November of 2015. The referendum centered on growth and meeting educational needs, which included looking at facilities. Bond 2015 projects include new schools, technology installation and upgrades. Other projects are campus renovations and repairs.

Dr. Wanda Bamberg

“We studied the analyses conducted by the consultants,” Superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg said. “We considered what was working. We also discussed making changes to maximize student achievement and learning opportunities.

“We weren‘t just thinking of 2014–2015 or 2017–2018. We were also thinking about 2020 and beyond.”

One of the recommendations was to reconfigure grade spans at the campuses. It is not a new concept in school systems. Reconfiguration would create more efficient use of District resources.

What Does Reconfiguration Mean for Aldine ISD?

Currently, grade levels are early childhood/prekindergarten (EC/PreK Centers), kindergarten (K) through grade 4 make up the elementary campuses. Grades 5 and 6 comprise intermediate schools. Grades 7 and 8 comprise middle schools. The District has stand-alone ninth grade schools. In the last group, grades 10 through 12 comprise the high school campuses.

In 2018-2019, the District is removing the transition to intermediate campuses. The grade configuration will change to EC/PreK/K for schools with the youngest students. First through fifth grade levels will comprise the elementary schools. Middle schools will be comprised of sixth through eighth grades. Ninth grade campuses and high schools will not change.

Why Reconfiguration?

In the 1980s, AISD underwent reconfiguration. At the time, the District was experiencing rapid growth. The addition of intermediate schools seemed ideal to handle growth.

Bamberg stressed that much has changed since then. For instance, the bar to pass state standardized tests keeps increasing. We also live in a more competitive, globalizing world. This too is impacting instructional programming.

In 2014-2015, the analyses conducted by consultants indicated that the age of several of AISD campuses warranted new schools. Additionally, demographers stated that Aldine would see faster student growth. That growth has slowed down. However, the District still looked to address possible changing student enrollments across Aldine. This meant aligning building capacity to enrollment and maximizing use of facilities.

Reconfiguration Is Good for Kids

Research suggests that reducing the number of campus transitions is good for students. Transitions can be stressful. They also interrupt positive relationships students have with teachers, administrators and class peers. Fewer transitions are also connected with higher achievement.

Bamberg also emphasized that it is not the location that impacts student learning. Instead, it is the educational experience that students receive. It is this that creates the potential to improve student learning. The experience includes instructional leadership, setting high expectations and monitoring of student progress. This also entails maximizing learning opportunities and positive communication.

“It is in the best interest of our students,” Bamberg said. “This will set the stage for academic improvement to occur.”

The District will center on key areas to enhance the instructional program such as:

Early literacy skills development in an EC/PreK/K setting. Studies show this impacts student learning including achievement in math.

The vertical alignment of all instructional programs. This will enhance consistency of the curriculum.

Vertical collaboration among grade levels. This will improve student outcomes.

The consistency of academic support services. These include services such as gifted and talented, dyslexia and special education services. This will also ensure more efficient, targeted interventions for bilingual students.

This will create the foundation for healthy behavior and academic attainment.

Reconfiguration also creates a setting better tailored to the needs of the early adolescent learner. Additionally, sixth graders will have earlier access to extracurricular activities. Studies show that students who take part in these activities do better in school. The earlier access also aims to better connect students to opportunities.

District leaders also hope to see an increase in another area: parent involvement. With students staying longer at one school, staff will have more time to strengthen these relationships. Parents are vital to improving student achievement.

Reconfiguration Will Impact Most EC/PreK to Middle School Campuses

A total of 58 of the 77 campuses will undergo reconfiguration. They include:

5 EC/PreK campuses that don’t currently offer kindergarten will add the grade level

34 Elementary campuses will change to the new 1-5 grade configuration

10 Intermediate schools convert to elementary campuses (Grades 1-5)

9 Middle schools will add the sixth grade to their configuration

Early childhood (EC/PreK/K) campuses that will not see changes include Jones, de Santiago and García-Leza. These campuses are already serving kindergarten students.

The EC/PreK/K campuses will see a name change. They will be known as “schools” instead of “centers.” This will avoid the public confusing the schools with child daycare facilities.

Mendel Elementary School was set to close at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. Due to Hurricane Harvey, it closed earlier than scheduled. Mendel kindergarten students are now housed at García-Leza. First through fourth grade students are housed at Greenspoint Elementary School.

Magrill Elementary School and Stovall Academy will also undergo a change. They will convert to Magrill EC/PreK/K School and Stovall EC/PreK/K School, respectively. Building conversions involve construction and renovations to ensure facilities meet younger students’ needs.

Will There be Changes to Magnet Schools or IB® World Schools Due to Reconfiguration?

Anderson Academy and Bethune Academy will be combined to serve grades 1-4. As the District rebuilds, Bethune students will move over to Anderson. The District will repurpose the Bethune facility to serve students and the community.

Raymond Academy will no longer be an elementary magnet school. The engineering program the campus currently offers will move to Reed Academy.

Wilson Intermediate will no longer be an International Baccalaureate® (IB) World School.

Campuses with discontinued magnet programs — Carroll, Smith, Harris, Stovall, Hill and Raymond — will see a name change. They will officially drop “Academy” from their names and will use “School” (e.g. Carroll Elementary School).

What Else Can Families Expect?

Reconfiguration will lower student enrollment numbers in a majority of existing elementary campuses. This will help campuses focus on students’ individual academic and social needs.

As Aldine ISD constructs new campuses, these facilities will be larger. AISD began the trend when it built Greenspoint Elementary School. The campus was a Bond 2007 project.

The new schools replacing the older Francis and Johnson elementary campuses are set to open in fall 2018. They will be 30 percent larger compared to typical models built years ago. The new campuses are among a couple of the construction projects from Bond 2015.

The new campuses will showcase learning communities that focus on individual academic strengths. The design also responds to modern-day teaching and learning applications.

The new elementary and middle schools are being designed to keep students in the same grade-level wing of the school or clusters. This will create learning environments that will give students a positive experience.

“The settings will not feel like large campuses,” Bamberg explained. “Each grade–level cluster will feel like a ‘school–within–a–school.‘Students will generally have the same teachers and block of classes together.”

Grade Level Transition Plan for Staff

The District has already made principal and assistant principal assignments. Others making the move include teachers, counselors, nurses, child nutrition and support staff.

When District leaders looked at staff assignments, they looked for optimal placements. The goal was to keep the majority of teachers working in their grade level.

“Everyone will be working together to improve the instructional program at their campuses,” Bamberg said.

Boundary Changes

Campuses will have new attendance zones and boundaries. This will optimize enrollment capacity and balance enrollment between schools. The District will assign affected students as well as notify families. Again, boundary changes will determine campus enrollment.

Additionally, the better aligned feeder patterns will better connect neighborhoods and neighborhood schools. The changes will do a better job of keeping classmates together from one school level to the next.

Bamberg reiterated that restructuring grade levels would improve the instructional program. The new EC-12 geographic feeder patterns set up more coherent, aligned planning structures. They foster better transitions across grades and school levels. For example, rather than middle schools meeting and planning instruction and interventions in isolation, the elementary schools in one neighborhood would meet with the feeder pattern’s middle schools and high school. Instructional plans and interventions could be viewed from EC through 12th grade.

Visit the school locator on the District website. Parents can type in their address and all the schools connected to it will be listed. The site includes a frequently asked questions page (FAQ). For questions about new boundaries, contact Assistant Superintendent Ken Knippel at (281) 985-6645.

Shaping a Brighter Future

Bamberg lauded the staff for the amazing work they are already doing. She pointed that this is an opportunity to build on this. Everyone wants to give students the best experience possible.

“The changes are about doing what is best for kids to better educate and prepare them for their future,” Bamberg said.

4 thoughts on “Big Changes Are Coming to Aldine ISD in 2018-2019”

Will the starting times for class be adjusted? There is so much traffic congestion at Hambrick Middle, Mac Arthur High and Ninth Grade, and Oleson Elementary schools that are within three blocks of one another on Aldine Mail Rt.

Hi Rosa. I do not have the answer you seek. Please contact Assistant Superintendent Ken Knippel at [email protected]. He worked on the new boundaries/zones. Let him know your concerns about congestion.

Hi Nora. In the article, there is a section about magnet and International Baccalaureate (IB®) schools. It has several bullets. One states that Raymond Academy will no longer be an elementary magnet school. The engineering program the campus currently offers will move to Reed Academy. So yes, Reed Academy will remain a magnet school.

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